Volume 37 | November 7, 2025

This Week’s Featured Articles & Media

Rob Lydic | How Campus Security Can Evolve From Tactical To Strategic
Colleges and universities are modernizing security, moving from legacy ID cards to secure mobile credentials, advanced access control systems, and AI-powered solutions. This shift is breaking down silos between physical and digital security, creating stronger, smarter and more proactive protection. The result: safer campuses, better experiences, and tech that aligns with how students actually live today. Read the full article in Forbes Technology Council.

2025 Cloud Security Summit | Bold Statements, Real Debates: What happened on stage at The Cloud Security Summit
At the Brivo + Eagle Eye Cloud Security Summit in Austin last week, Lee moderated a main stage session that intentionally turned into a real debate. There were no prep calls, no scripted answers and the audience voted live in real time. The result was more honesty, more energy and more nuance across four provocative statements on innovation, value, openness and identity in physical security. Read Lee’s write-up on LinkedIn.

November 11-13 | The XForum Comes to The Security Event Asia
For the first time, the XForum joins The Security Event Asia — featuring 20 speakers and over a dozen sessions across three days. Hosted by The Access Control Executive Brief, it will bring together industry leaders and innovators to explore the future of access control. Register here to join us next week.

November 18-20 | ISC East Trends Pavilion
The Trends Pavilion is where ISC East attendees get a first look at the technologies reshaping critical infrastructure. We’ll also be hosting the session, The Big Trend and the Idea: Five Minutes Each on Shaping the Future, on Wednesday at 12:10pm ET and Thursday at 11:30am ET. Find us on the show floor by The Bridge Stage.

The Access Control Collective | PhySecJobs.com
Visit PhySecJobs.com to see the latest jobs in the physical security industry.

Find them all below!

As students return to campuses, colleges and universities are doing more than just reopening their doors. They’re strategically reimagining campus security, fusing advanced technology with physical spaces to create safer, smarter environments.

Higher education institutions have a responsibility to protect a diverse population of students, faculty, staff and visitors. When these stakeholders (and parents!) know a campus is secure, it fosters a sense of safety, allowing them to focus on learning, teaching and research without undue worry.

However, colleges and universities face distinct security challenges that set them apart from other educational and corporate facilities. They pride themselves on maintaining a welcoming campus that can, among other things, host large events. They also face budget limitations and a complex regulatory environment that can impact investments.

Security is a delicate balancing act that supports educational missions without compromising openness and academic freedom. I've seen three trends emerging that demonstrate how campus security is evolving from tactical to strategic:

• Adopting advanced access control systems and AI-powered solutions that provide a seamless user experience and streamline management.

• Bridging physical and digital environments for comprehensive protection.

• Leveraging video surveillance that respects privacy.

Continue reading in the Forbes Technology Council.

I had the privilege of moderating “Bold Statements, Real Debates” on the main stage at the Brivo and Eagle Eye Networks Cloud Security Summit in Austin, Texas. My panelists, Eric Yunag of Convergint, Chris Gilbert of Security Pros, LLC, and Chad Lingafelt of Loc-Doc Security, are familiar faces. I’m on panels a lot and the three of us have done panels before, so this time, I wanted to do something different.

When Steve Van Till and his team at Brivo asked me to lead this session, they gave me permission to get creative. Knowing Steve, I figured he’d appreciate something unconventional.

Here’s what we changed and why it worked.

1. No prep calls. Believe it or not, you can do without them. No pre-panel coordination, no rehearsed answers. Just real, in-the-moment reactions. It was refreshing. We’ve stopped doing them for all our panels.

Why? Because 99% of panel prep calls kill authenticity. The truth is, panelists hate doing them, and audiences hate watching overly choreographed discussions. For a lot of panels you might as well hit “play” on a recording.

2. Live debate. I gave the panelists four statements on stage. Each one was designed to provoke real conversation. They had to take a position (“agree” or “disagree”) and defend it live. I took notes in real time (next time, I’ll display the statements for the audience…lesson learned).

3. Audience participation. Brivo handed out Yes/No cards so attendees could vote on each statement. The room came alive. Real-time alignment and disagreement created energy, humor, and, most importantly, honesty.

Continue reading on LinkedIn.